Chapter 35

Christmastime became the main focus of the Cooper household over the next week, even though their spirit was somewhat dimmed by the need of still having someone stay up at night and stand guard due to Clint's insisting.

Bliss retrieved the few things she had bought while in Plateau all those weeks ago and took them down from her closet. Some of the things still needed to be made, but she had managed to buy Colt a brand-new shirt without him knowing it. His shirts were growing threadbare and she knew that he needed a new one. Daddy had been needing a new pair of boots for a while, so all of the cowboys pitched in with her and they bought him a pair. For Grace, she had bought the material to make her a new apron.

However, she was stuck on what to make for Clint. He had to have something from her to thank him for all that he had done. Bliss wracked her brain for ideas.

A knock sounded on her door and she shoved the box of presents under her bed before answering it. She opened the door and saw Damian standing there.

"Bliss, we need to talk," he said.

"About what?" Bliss was kind of wary of talking to her friend with Clint's suspicions still floating around in her mind.

"About Clint."

Bliss leaned against the doorway. "Why?"
"He's got to go. I know you want him gone just as much as me, you know," Damian said.

Bliss drew her eyebrows close together. "That might have been true at first, but I've change my mind now. What quarrel do you have with him?"

She knew all too well what Damian's quarrel with Clint was, but she had to ask.

"He's tearing this family apart, don't you see that? You and your father are at each other's throats and I'm not getting along with any of you. He's making us turn on each other."

Bliss sighed. She could contain herself. "The reason my father and I are having relationship problems has nothing to do with Clint. As of you not getting along with us, I think we all know whose fault that is. None of us feel right trusting you after you lied to us."

Damian clenched his jaw. "You don't even know the whole story about that."

"I don't have to. I know when to stop trusting someone. As a matter of fact, I'm surprised you haven't left us yet. You'd think you'd know when you were licked," Bliss commented.

"This isn't a competition, Bliss."

"Sure it isn't. You haven't liked Clint since he arrived. Maybe you feared that he would see through you, and he did. You can't keep secrets around here for long. Somehow, somewhere, they will always be found out. You wrote the notes, didn't you?" Bliss asked.

Damian dropped his head.

"I knew it," Bliss sighed.

"You don't understand. I was completely broke. They told me that they wouldn't hurt anyone. They just wanted the money," Damian confessed.

"So you decided to betray us for money? Money didn't matter to you before the war, you know. You believed in this family. You fought alongside us, you struggled with us, and yet you go and turn your back on us like this?" Bliss crossed her arms.

"I was completely broke, Bliss. I didn't have but a quarter to my name," Damian defended himself.

"We would have helped you. You know that. How did they even find you, anyway?" Bliss asked.

Damian opened his mouth, and then shut it back.

"Cat got your tongue, Damian?" The question didn't come from Bliss.

They both looked down the hall to where Clint was leaned against the wall just outside his room. He had heard the whole conversation.

"Does it matter how they found me? I made a mistake," Damian back and forth between them.

"You bet you did, Damian."
All three of them looked down at the other end of the hall to where Daddy stood in the shadows, watching their every move.

Damian swallowed hard.

"I think we need to sit down and have a talk, Damian," Daddy said.

A few minutes later, they all sat at the table except for Clint, who stood on the other side of the room, watching.

"Why, Damian? I know you said you were broke, but aren't their better ways of getting money?" Daddy asked.

"I had a run-in with these men before," Damian said as he wrung his hands. "I knew that if I didn't do what they wanted, it wouldn't end well for me."

"What kind of run-in?" Daddy asked.

"It doesn't matter. It's in the past."

"Fine, then riddle me this," Clint spoke up. "What did you put in my drink back in Plateau and why did you do it?"

Damian started sweating. "They assigned me to find out as much as I could form you. They wanted me to find a weakness. They gave me a vial of liquid and said it would make you loopy and most likely talk. I never expected that I would get drunk, too."

Clint nodded. "These two men were Joe and Abel, weren't they?"

Damian nodded in return.

Clint sighed. Bliss couldn't imagine what he must have been going through. His own brothers had betrayed him.

"Did they know who I was?" Clint asked.

Damian looked up at him. "They did. They told me who you were, too."

Bliss looked back at Clint. His grey eyes grew sorrowful and his lips twisted as he nodded. How could Damian have done this to them?

"I think it's best that you leave now, Damian," she said before she thought her words through.

Daddy and Damian both looked at her in shock.

Bliss stood by what she had said. "Come back when you are ready to be loyal to us again. When you know what friendship means."

She stood from the table and walked down the hall that led to the front door. She was tired of this game. It was time to clean up her life and get rid of the people that she didn't need around. That included Damian.

*****

Clint walked Damian to his horse and watched him mount. Bliss stood beside him and Sherman stood watching from the porch.

Lord, I hope we're doing the right thing here. I don't really like the idea of Damian being on the loose

.

"Here, you'll need this," Bliss handed a brown paper sack up to Damian. "Grace made you some food to take along. I expect you to ride far enough away to have need of it."

Damian nodded. "Again, I'm sorry about all of this."

"We know," Bliss sighed.

Damian looked down at Clint with a scowl before kicking his horse into a run and riding away from the ranch and out of sight.

"I still don't see why you don't notify the sheriff about him," Clint mentioned to Bliss.

"He won't cause us any more trouble. I know him enough to know that," Bliss folded her hands behind her and walked toward the house.

"How do you know? Joe and Abel are still out there, and close," Clint followed after her.

"Because he'll ride as hard and fast as he can away from them after what they have cost him. I doubt we'll ever see him again, at least for many years," Bliss walked past her father and on to the front door.

"I still think you're underestimating him," Clint sighed.

Bliss smiled. "Maybe I am, but I'll be obliged to let you shoot his blame foot off if he shows his face around here again."

She opened the door and walked down the hall toward the kitchen with Clint following her.

Clint smirked. "That's what I was looking for. I knew you had it in you."

Bliss laughed. "I can be fierce if I want to be."

"I don't believe that," Clint said with a sarcastic snort.

Bliss turned around as she entered the kitchen. "Are you doubting me, Mr. Slade?"

Clint put his hand over his heart in mock horror. "Of course not."

No one was in the kitchen, so Bliss went over to the coffee pot on the stove and put it on to warm up.

Clint sat down at his place at the table, looking at the newspaper that Sherman had left on the table.

Bliss sat across from him and sighed. "Wonder where everyone went?"

Clint shrugged. "I think I saw Grace doing laundry a little while ago."

Bliss nodded. After a moment, she looked up at him. "How did you find that map?"

"Map?" Clint met her gaze.

"The one telling where all that money was," Bliss reminded him.

Clint nodded. "Oh. Well, I was kind of snooping around Damian's room, trying to find something on him. I came across an old dusty Bible and the map was sticking out of it."

Bliss raised her eyebrows at him. "And you say that I'm the curious one?"

Clint smiled. "You've been rubbing off on me."

"I guess it's a good thing, because we found out Damian," Bliss said.

Clint shrugged.

Bliss watched him for a moment. "Can I ask you something personal?"

Clint narrowed his eyes at her. He caught himself from protesting. One of the things he had decided after he became a Christian was that he was going to be more open with people - starting with Bliss.

"Sure," he said.

Bliss took a moment before asking. "What happened to you?"

Clint smirked. She had noticed a change in him.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"You're different now. You're not as... as..."

"Boring?" Clint offered. "Hardened? Just plain grumpy?"

Bliss smiled at him. "Yeah."

Clint took a deep breath. This was his chance.

Lord, give me the right words.

"Something has happened to me. Something that I can't really explain, but once I found it, it didn't really need an explanation," he told her.

"I don't understand," Bliss drew her eyebrows close together.

Clint decided to put it all out there, no matter how she took it.

"Miss Cooper, I've become a Christian."

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